Our bi-monthly focus for March and April 2019 is Connection

Connection to ourselves, to others and to our environment is an important part of our human experience. It gives life real depth and real meaning.

And everything is connected by ‘prana’ (life-force), or what we often refer to as ‘energy.’

This energy flows within us and around us, it is literally the pulsation, the vitality, the breathe and power that flows through our life!

Understanding this sense of connection, and knowing that we all have an energetic effect through words, actions, and even thoughts reminds us to treat ourselves, others and our environment with kindness, love and respect.

As we flow and move together in yoga posture practice on the mat, we connect between breath, mind and body which leads to greater connection off the mat with friends, family, partners, colleagues, strangers and our environment.

Positive Psychology researcher Barbara Fredrickson states, “What we’ve learned is that when people move together as one orchestrated unit, they later report that they experienced an embodied sense of rapport with each other—they say they felt alive, connected, with a mutual sense of warmth and trust as they converse. Other studies concur. When synchrony is surreptitiously produced in experimental studies—by having people walk, tap, sing, sway, or rock together in time—it breeds liking, cooperation, and compassion as well as success in joint action.”

Other research shows that yoga posture practice can improve the function of the vagus nerve, a key nerve in resilience and connection.

People with low vagal tone tend to have more trouble recovering from stressful events, while people with higher vagal tone tend to recover with greater ease. And, in addition to indicating one’s level of resilience, vagal tone is also correlated with feelings of social connection. The greater your vagal tone, the greater your perceived sense of connection.

Additional studies on Loving-kindness and compassion based meditation, in which you actively send good wishes to yourself and others, has also been shown to improve both vagal tone and feelings of social connection.

Meditation is a key yoga practice to facilitate intuitive connection and connection to innate wisdom. When the mind moves from a place of doing to non-doing, a space is created for intuition, wisdom, insight, clarity and connection to arise.

Connecting with nature can also be incredibly invigorating and leave us feeling deeply connected to our immediate environment. There are so many simple ways to do this; practicing outdoors, taking a walk, cycling, sitting out in the garden, having picnic in the park or whatever it is you choose. That same energetic connection and prana we experience with each other also extends to our environment.

This all means that we have an abundance of ways to cultivate and nurture connection in our lives!

I firmly believe that the more connected we are in life, the happier we are, the kinder we are, the better we feel and the more fun we have!

I look forward to sharing space, having fun and cultivating connection together!

With Love & Blessings

PS: Join me for FRIDAY EVENING WORKSHOPS, 7:30pm to 9:30pm on 1 March, 22 March, 5 April, 17 May@YogaDublin Ranelagh. We will connect with the specific moon cycle, the elements of Yoga, with each other, have fun and feel good!